7 places on Earth that remain scientific enigmas

It’s like being on a distant planet at the edge of the galaxy : those inhospitable places and worrying are nevertheless of course on our good old Earth whose mysteries were believed to have been pierced. Error: our planet is still subject to unexplained natural phenomena. But if the latter remain scientific enigmas, it would be premature to see in them a paranormal manifestation.

Namibia’s Fairy Circles

Scattered across the arid grasslands of desert of the Namib, these circles of 2 to 15 meters in diameter (photographed here by Carolyn Cheng) form giant “holes” in the vegetation. The most diverse hypotheses circulate about their origin: radioactive soil, termite artwork having devoured the roots of plants to allow water to be absorbed by the sand, or the competition between plants that self-organize around water resources by forming these unusual circular shapes. Not to mention the hypothesis of a alien landing or the marks of a divine walk. Other “fairy circles” were discovered in 2016 in the Australian desert, again without a convincing explanation being found to solve this scientific enigma.

The Albino Forest in California

A gloomy forest of white ghosts looms along California’s coasts in California’s National Parks. Big Basin Redwoods Where Humbolt Redwoods. These redwoods have not been victims of a chemical pollution or rain acids : they are albino, devoid of chlorophyll, which gives their color green to other plants. But how can these white redwoods survive without photosynthesis ? According to Zane Moore, a research student at the University of California, these trees would be kinds of chimeras, the albino branches taking advantage of resources green branches. In return, the albino parts sequester the metals which poison the soil and would normally result in the death of trees. Here is a possible explanation for this scientific enigma.

The most confusing scientific enigma: the giant crater of Batagaika in Siberia

The Yakuts call him ” gate from hell “. The Batagaika crater appeared in the 1960s in northern Siberia and today stretches nearly a kilometer long and 86 meters deep. It continues to deepen at the rate of 10 to 30 meters per year, emitting bizarre and frightening sounds. The depression began when much of the forest was cleared, leaving the ground vulnerable and weakened by warming, which melted the permafrost and led to collapses. The phenomenon is all the more worrying in that it risks release pockets of methane trapped in the ground, liable to give rise to explosions. As it expands, the crater reveals archaeological remains and fossils dating back more than 200,000 years, such as the corpse of a prehistoric horse, a musk ox or a mammoth.

The Atlantic Earth Magnetic Hole

L’Anomaly South Atlantic Magnetic Cluster (Amas) is a gaping breach in the magnetic shielde which protects the Earth from cosmic particles. This vast area stretching from Chile to Zimbabwe covers nearly 7.8 million km² and continues to grow. A “hole” which causes disturbances in communication and space observation satellites, but whose origin remains unexplained. It could be a magnetic flux coming from the movements of rocks in merger in the earth core, composed of iron liquid, or a beginning ofreversal of the magnetic poles, which occurs every 400,000 years on average. If this were the case, this type of breach could multiply and cause serious problems for health or for commercial flights.

The Dallol hydrothermal field in Ethiopia

Temperatures reaching 45°C in the middle of winter, geysers boiling water, greenish lakes whose acidity can take on negative values, rising gas toxic, concretions bloated loaded with sulfur…Here’s another science riddle! The hydrothermal springs of Dallol, in the Danakil desert north of Ethiopia, are one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. At 160 meters below sea level, this volcano aerial is the lowest on the planet. Covered by a thick layer of salt, it is devoid of any form of life, except some primitive archaea. A concentrate of extremes studied by scientists to understand theemergence of life on Earth.

The mud-spitting volcano in Indonesia

For 12 years, the volcano Lusi, east of the island of Java in Indonesia, tirelessly spits the equivalent of 25 Olympic pools of mud per day; isn’t this, too, a beautiful scientific enigma?! A unique phenomenon in the world which would be the consequence of a gas drilling which would have pierced a aquifer under high pressure. Another hypothesis is a earthquake which would have liquefied the sediments. Unlike all other mud volcanoes, which eject their mixture intermittently, the flow of mud here is continuous and is not expected to dry up for at least decades, scientists say. In the meantime, the flood of mud has already displaced 60,000 people, is drying out the fields and polluting the river. The volcano also emits toxic gases, which can ignite at any time, and stones.

Hillier’s Pink Lake in Australia

The dense green forest and the deep blue of the Indian Ocean offer a contrast striking with pink fuchsia Lake Hillier, located on the edge of Middle Island in southern Australia. The pink color of this lake, 600 meters long and 250 meters wide, has long held scientists in suspense, unable to determine with certainty the source of this strange hue. According to researchers from theextreme Microbiome Project (XMP), the strange coloring of the lake would ultimately be the combination of two phenomena. On the one hand, the accumulation of a micro-algae, Dunaliella salina, which uses beta-carotene for its photosynthesis, and on the other hand, the presence of a halobacterium that appreciates saline environments and gives the salt a color Strawberry. Despite appearances, the water is not toxic and offers conditions perfectly conducive to swimming.